Improvement in hats



C. E. RICHARDS.

HATS.

No.188,Z60, Patented MarqhlS, 1877.

NFETERS, PHQTO-LITHOGRAPNER. WASH NGTON D c STATES PATENT QFFICE.

GELIUS E. RICHARDS, OF NORTH ATTLEBORbUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO SOGRATES SGHOLFIELD, OF

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN HATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 188,260, dated March 13, 1877; application filed July 6, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, OELIUS E. RICHARDS, of North Attleborough, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Knit Paper Hat, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of hats made from paper thread or twine; and it consists in a machineknit hat-body, combined with a continuous encircling rim of double thickness, consisting of one thickness of the knitted fabric superposed upon the other.

The object of this invention is to provide in a knit hat made of paper thread or twine a means whereby the rim may be made of sufficient rigidity to support itself in proper fixed position, and also to be close enough in texture to properly shield the face of the wearer from the rays of the sun, while the body of the hat is left open and light. understood that in all cases the rim must'be finally finished with sizing or varnish in order to perfect the manufacture by producing the desired stiffness, as is common in summer hats made of other materials.

In practice I prefer to first knit the body of the hat, then widen out to form the upper side of the rim, and then narrowing down to form the under side, thus making the entire hat of one piece of knitted fabric. The hat It is' is then placed upon the proper form, and the two sides of the rim brought together and sized, so as to cause it to maintain its proper position at right angles to the body of the hat.

I am aware that Scotch caps and similar coverings for the head have been heretofore made from cotton,;wo0len, or other similar thread 5 but no hat has heretofore been knit from any material whatever, so as to have a continuous encircling rim made to extend outward at right angles from the body of the hat In order to use the paper thread on a knitting-machine it must be first wet or dampened, in order to overcome the natural stiffness of the material, and by this means hats for summer wear may be made with great economy. The accompanying drawing represents a. sectional view of my improved knit hat, showing a single body, A, combined with a rim, B, of double thickness.

I claim as my invention- A hat fabricated of paper thread or twine, having a knit and stiffened encircling rim of two thicknesses, as a new manufacture.

OELIUS E. RIOHARDS.

Witnesses:

SocRATEs SOHOLFIELD, ALBERT G. SoHoLFIELD. 

